Lewis is a contemporary ceramicist, sculptor, potter, muralist, photographer, videographer, filmmaker, performance artist, and writer, as well as a teacher and administrator. After receiving a scholarship from the
Royal Canadian Legion in
Kelowna, British Columbia in 1954, Lewis spent the next ten years studying painting, drawing, and ceramics, and teaching. In 1969, Lewis was commissioned by the Canadian government to create a work of art for
Expo '70 in
Osaka,
Japan.
Artifact, a sculptural ceramic work, was ultimately not shown, because it was thought by the commissioner of the Canadian pavilion to be obscene. As a co-founding member of the
New Era Social Club,
Intermedia, and, in 1973, the
Western Front, Lewis was one of an internationally recognised group of artists who established social practice as an artistic medium in Vancouver. In 2017, Lewis was named by the
Canada Council for the Arts as one of eight recipients of the
Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, for which he received a $25,000 cash prize. == See also ==